The Internet of Things (IoT) is a general term used to describe the addition of networking capabilities to physical objects or “things” that serve some purpose or function outside of computing and/or networking technologies (i.e., traditionally “unconnected” or “offline” devices), such as thermometers, refrigerators, lights, wristbands, and sensors. In general, these “things,” sometimes referred to as IoT enabled-devices, IoT devices, or special purpose network connected devices, are embedded with electronics, software, and network interfaces, which enable the physical objects to send and/or receive data packets over a network.
The rapid rise of IoT has resulted in steadily increasing numbers and types of IoT devices, as well as an unprecedented volumes and varieties of IoT data. This IoT data is increasingly being processed through the use of so-called fog computing/networking. Fog computing is a type of decentralized computing architecture in which a “fog domain” (fog) is located in physical proximity to the IoT devices, between the IoT devices and a “cloud domain” (cloud). The fog, which is formed by one or more fog nodes, includes processing, compute, storage, and/or other capabilities and, in essence, extends the cloud to the edge of the network, bringing the advantages and power of the cloud closer to where the IoT data is created and acted upon.